Shades of My Shadow
by AlwaysPadfoot
Summary: A series of random snippets from Lily Luna Potter and Louis Weasley's lives, both of whom are overshadowed by their siblings and cousins. Wrote especially for Abby.
1. Chapter 1

**The Sorting of Lily Luna**

**AlwaysPadfoot**

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_This fic is written for the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge and thus a present for my Best Friend Abby (Cookies-and-Ink), who I know really wants to see some more Next-Gen stuff._

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Anxiously, I approached the stool, even having Uncle Nev present wasn't easing my nerves. For a moment, I panicked as silence fell and I could no longer see the Great Hall, but then I realised the hat had just fallen over my eyes.

"Well, if it isn't another student from the Potter/Weasley line," a voice whispered in my ear. It was always about my brothers: James this, Albus that, for once people should pay attention to me.

"A thirst to prove yourself, quite intelligent, lots of ambition," the voice chuckled. The hat was talking to me, obviously, no one thought it wise to tell the me that the hat can read thoughts.

"There's no doubt where you should be placed," it said, "SLYTHERIN."


	2. Chapter 2

**Louis' First Rejection**

**AlwaysPafoot**

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_Using the prompt snow and present :)_

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"Louis, your sister is home," Mum shouted up the stairs. I jumped up, running downstairs. I'd been waiting for ages and ages. Victoire had been gone at Hogwarts for months and I wanted to show her all the pictures I'd drawn of the snow that had fallen and the story book my teacher had given me at Muggle School as a present.

Dominique said she won't care, she said she'll be busy with her school friends, but she doesn't know anything; she's not even at Hogwarts yet. I rushed down the stairs to see Daddy and Victoire in the doorway with her Christmas bag. With an excited squeal, I ran over and wrapped my arms around her legs.

"Victoire! You're back, come see what I've got, come on, come on!"

She prised me from around her legs and firmly pushed me backwards towards the stairs, "Not now, Louis."

I stood staring at her as she disappeared into the kitchen, Dad ruffles my hair as he goes past and Dominique simply grinned at me from the living room doorway. She was right; Victoire is too busy to come and see my books and drawings.

"I told you so Louis, she doesn't have time for five year olds."


	3. Chapter 3

**No Aid for a Murderer**  
**AlwaysPadfoot**

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**Disclaimer**: Anything recognisable does not belong to me  
**Prompts**: Far Away, Missing You, beating heart, pink booties, and fairies.

**WARNING**: Tackles a sensitive subject!

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Tick. Tick. Tick.

The clock on the wall of the Hospital Wing has probably never been more annoying in the time that it has spent there. It shows that it's twenty to eleven in the morning and I have never been more irritated at myself for getting somewhere early.

Maybe I thought it would give me more time to think, and I was right, it had done. It was the worst mistake I'd ever made, because now, as I sat in the Hospital Wing, even though I was surrounded by various students and a handful of Professors, I'd never felt more alone. I'd never felt more ashamed of my decision to come here today. Every person I caught the eye of, I felt like I was being judged, ridiculed even.

Derek Fawley and I had been together for three years, before the break-up, before everything had gone wrong. I had thought he understood, understood what it was like to be the outcast. I thought he knew what it was like to have no family or friends to turn to at the times when you most needed to, but no, he'd lied. Our whole relationship from fourth year to just one week ago had been one big fuck up. I was only two months from the end of school and now I'd been chucked off the Potions Mastery Program due to the influence of my boyfriend, was living on my cousins couch during the holidays and, oh yes, the whole reason I was here; I'm two months pregnant.

Two months pregnant.

It kind of sounded funny in my head, like it was something that I never thought I'd be doing at eighteen years of age with no boyfriend and no house to live in when I left Hogwarts, without any support or guidence to make a rational decision.

So my only thought was to terminate my... The baby.

What choice did I have? My family wouldn't support me, I'd always lived in the shadows of my brothers; I'd always been second best. I'd stopped spending any time at home because I used to spend it all with him. What would they think of this?

Pregnant, homeless, the bane of their existence.

Rotten.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Time seemed to move slower in the hustle and bustle of the Hospital Wing, under the scrutiny of every student in the waiting room. I shrank under the look of Professor Bones, who had brought her youngest child to see Madam Pomfrey. Her child was all dressed up, in a cute little skirt and a t-shirt with fairies on it that matched her little pink booties. She seemed to pull her child away from me and further into her arms, as if the thought of abandoning her child was the worst thing in the world.

I looked down through blurry eyes at my hands, she wouldn't know that my boyfriend had destroyed my life as quickly as I thought he'd made it. I didn't want to see him in my child, every time I looked in its eyes or every time it laughed. It was almost like I could hear the Professor's thoughts.

_Didn't tell the boyfriend did you? Want to get rid of the bastard child before he finds out and leaves you with no money when you finally leave School._

I let my hair fall across my face as I brought my knees up to my chest, hugging them tightly. Of course, I didn't tell Derek, but the reason for that was so he didn't force me to keep it. After all, an heir was an heir, even if it did come from me, I'd be locked into marriage and the part of doting wife, whilst he went and fucked every whore in sight.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Reality seemed so far away as I listened to the clock and a crazy part of me wanted him to burst in so I could tell him that I missed him and this could all just go away. But it wasn't him I missed, I missed not being alone. I missed not having someone to hold when I was upset, or to talk to if I needed help.

I needed help now.

I needed somebody, anybody but Derek to come and hold my hand whilst I did something that most people would kill me for, whilst I did something that required just a little more support. I needed to just get through this decision, irrational as it maybe under the circumstances. After all, I was a Slytherin, we don't do irrational, we do calm, collected and completely rational.

Maybe I'd be able to do that if I had someone to sit here with in my last few minutes of being a pregnant mother. Maybe I wouldn't feel like a murderer, or a slag, or a disgrace, despite being completely unprepared for a child.

Without a home or money to support a child, what right did I have to bring it into a world like that, where I had no clue.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

My heart was beating in time to the clock now and with one fleeting last look to the Hospital Wing doors, it finally hit me that no one was coming to help me.

No one was coming to help a murderer.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Lost Boy**  
**AlwaysPadfoot**

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**Disclaimer**: JK sold it all to me for Christmass, oh wait...

Twelve Days of Christmas (308 words)

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Forgetting about my own cousin?

Yeah, well, it kind of makes sense since family is something I generally try to avoid, particularly when it comes to Weasley Dinners. I tended to keep my head down, since no one would hear me if I decided to say anything anyway. It half kind of made sense that I didn't even realise my cousin was here in my own house. Of course, I'd seen him being sorted, but it had all been a little overwhelming.

His face was lost to me in an endless sea of red hair and freckles, except Louis wasn't ginger, he was a strawberry blonde instead, and he only had slightest splattering of freckles across his cheeks. Oh, and of course, he was a Slytherin like me, not a Gryffindor like pretty much everybody else in our huge family, except Rose, who was our resident Ravenclaw. It didn't matter for her though because she was closer to my brother and the other Gryffindors.

"Could I..." Louis abruptly pulled me out of my thoughts as he stood, seeming like he'd just been abandoned next to the Slytherin table, looking at me. I shifted over, letting him claim the seat next to me and not speaking for a second. It seemed awkward to not really know him and sit next to him like I knew everything fom his middle name to deepest desire.

"I don't really do family," we said in unison. I guess I'd expected him to act like a crazy cousin, pretending like we should be joined at the hip, but no. It seemed that Louis Weasley didn't quite click into place in the Potter-Weasley dynamic.

I guess that's why I liked him, because in our huge family it was easy to get missed, easy to get lost.

At least this way we could get lost together.


	5. Chapter 5

**Helpless**

**AlwaysPadfoot**

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Louis Weasley - Helpless - No Dialogue

unbeta'ed (will read through later)

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He doesn't want to open his eyes. He doesn't want to see the damage they've inflicted on him again, besides he doesn't need to look to know its worse than last time.

Louis Weasley lies stil, his whole body aches and he knows if struggles the binds around his body will only get tighter and tighter. He doesn't struggle, he stays silent because he can no longer speak and that won't be changing anytime soon. Darren Nott had already used the silencio spell to stop him calling for help and coincidently forgotten to remove it. Not that Louis would, not while they could still be around; he had more pride than that. Louis shifts ever so slightly, he can see his wand lying discarded a few metres away, where Nott kicked it, and silently he prays for someone to find him.

He can't shake the feeling of how stupid he'd been. He could have fought and when he thinks about it he knows he tried to fight, but five against one was never going to be fair. Especially not when they are fourth years and he is a second year. Louis wills his wand to come to him, yet it remains stil way out of his reach. Angrily he bangs his head against the floor in irritation.

No one would find him here, he would be stuck here until a Prefect or Teacher appears or maybe if Nott wants him to get into trouble he will wait until after curfew and then tip Professor Fawley off. Fawley hates Louis more than anyone, because he's a Weasley and his best friend is a Potter and together they disgraced the name of Slytherin.

Apparently.

He wants to snort in annoyance thinking about the disgruntly Transfiguration teacher, but right now it's just not the right time, not really.

Louis eyes dart from side to side, searching and listening for any sign that someone might be around or perhaps there is a portrait who could help; one that hadn't already abandoned its frame.

There's no one.

It could be worse, of course, but with his limbs bound to his body and his wand out of reach, he sighs in defeat.

He has no chance, no way of escape, not for a long while. He might as well get bloody comfortable.

He feels almost naked without his wand and the inability of not being able to move pretty much seals the deal. It makes him useless and incapable. It pisses him off, but he can't even get revenge, not yet anyway. Not until he gets out of this. Usually he was faster, usually he had Lily, usually he wasn't such a shitty Slytherin.

In a fit of annoyance he throws himself across the corridor, but he comes short, his wand still not in reach and the ropes that bound him tightening uncomfortably. He grits his teeth and makes a silent noise of frustration; although it seems to him like a whine.

Louis is going to have to wait.


	6. Chapter 6

**Forever and Ever**

**AlwaysPadfoot**

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**Prompts used**: Shadow, Pretend, Lie, Counting, Sour.

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Louis closed his eyes, counting slowly all the way up to ten because after all, that was all he knew. His cousins had said him and Lily could only play if one of them was on. Louis had volunteered, Lily was going to help him by watching where people went to hide and showing him where they were when he finished counting.

"Ten, ready or not," Louis shouted, turning around to look for his cousins but he could only see Lily standing in the shadows at the side of the house. Without speaking she smiled and pointed towards the willow tree. He ran over to it and looked up, James and Dom were up in its branches. James' expression turned sour.

"You can't seriously have found us first," he frowned.

"C'mon Louis, can't you pretend you haven't seen us?" Dom pleaded.

Louis shook his head, "That would be lying," he said matter-of-factly, before skipping out from under the tree and beaming at his cousin.

He knew she'd be his best friend forever and ever


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm Alive**

**AlwaysPadfoot**

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**Warning**: Cousincest

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Louis and I lay together, a tangle of limbs, under the covers of my quilt. The house was silent, of course, we wouldn't risk doing anything like what we just had if any of my family had been in the house.

They had gone to one of James' Quidditch matches, again. They hadn't even asked if I'd wanted to come, but that was typical. It was summer after all, I might as well have been back at Hogwarts. Louis being here made me feel noticed, he made me remember that I actually had some proper family. Just feeling his skin against mine made me feel alive because sometimes I suffered from the delusion that I didn't actually exist.

I watched as my hand on Louis' chest rose up and down with his slow breathing and I smiled. If only we could stay here forever under the covers where no one could disturb us, then maybe I would feel like this wasn't forbidden.

Then again, forbidden made it feel so much better.

I ran my hands through the fine blonde hair across his chest, my body pressing closer to his as he slept soundly next to me. I felt safe curled up beside him, after all, we were always there for each other. We'd protected each other from every family disappointment and cared when no one else did.

That was a bond no one could ever break.


	8. Chapter 8

**Freezing Cold Happiness**

**AlwaysPadfoot**

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_unbeta'ed_

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Louis frustratingly threw his spare parchment and books from his bed to the floor and threw himself down on top of his sheets. He buried his face into his pillow and gripped the underside of it tightly in anger to stop himself from throwing stuff around.

Breathing heavily, he desperately came up with excuse after excuse for why he had gotten so angry at Rowan Fawley for flirting with his best friend and cousin. Louis was going to have to pick one soon otherwise Lily was going to stay mad at him forever and that was not something he was willing to let happen.

He thought about going to her room and apologising but then she'd probably want her privacy after that completely humiliating scene that had just happened in the Common Room. Besides, Louis would never know if Fawley was in there with her. He certainly didn't want to walk in on them and as much as he hated the thought of them being together, he wasn't going to disturb them because of that.

He swung his feet off the bed and headed to the bathroom. After splashing freezing cold water on his face, he looked up at his pale reflection. The panicked look in his eyes had been acquired almost instantly after he realised that he could lose Lily because of his stupid argument. He'd only meant it to be playful and funny, not serious.

Annoyingly, Lily still wanted to be with Rowan Fawley and for Louis, Lily had to be happy before he was.


End file.
